Sevinj Vagifqizi: “Does the government think it will intimidate us with imprisonment? What fear of prison do those who have faced death have?!”
At the court proceedings held on June 20, Sevinj Vagifqizi (Abbasova), the imprisoned editor-in-chief of “Abzas Media,” delivered her final statement.
The journalist was sentenced to 9 years’ deprivation of liberty.
The full text of Sevinj Vagifqizi’s final statement:
Independent journalism in Azerbaijan has always been a clandestine activity. This has been the case since the national press came into existence. You who accuse us of clandestine activities forget that Üzeyir Hacıbəyli, who composed this country’s anthem and was also a publicist and editor, had to write articles in the press under 67 pseudonyms. This was to protect himself from the pressure of governments intolerant of the truth. Üzeyir bey was able to protect himself from Stalin’s regime’s repressions with his pseudonyms, but if he had lived in this era, he could hardly have escaped İlham Əliyev’s mass arrests.
The journalists accused in this courtroom had no pseudonyms. They worked completely anonymously. Yes, Azerbaijan is a country of nameless journalists. A country of journalists who cannot proudly put their own names on the articles, investigations, analyses they write, or the video materials they prepare. Those journalists whose names only become known to society after their arrests. They are known not for the news they write, but for the news of their arrests. Because a century after Üzeyir bey lived, a century later, nothing has changed in Azerbaijan. Independent journalism has always been contraband activity, not smuggling. When this country’s free journalists take their steps, they look around to see if perhaps they are being followed. When talking on the phone, they are cautious because perhaps they are being listened to. They are forced to work in basements or rented houses. Even during filming, they protect their cameras more than themselves so they can convey the truth to people. What the government fears, and what we want to protect, has been true news.
When officials speak, they say “they were not arrested for journalistic activities.” But they cannot explain how all 26 journalists turned out to be smugglers within a year and a half? They were not content with just sealing the offices of independent media; they even arrested the head of the Baku School of Journalism, closing the door on young people who wanted to become professional journalists. They arrested not only us, but also the dreams of that youth.
So for whom and why are these arrests and closures necessary?
The investigation materials state that the operation against Abzas members began based on information from a “reliable source.” But who is that “reliable” source? The investigative body and the court refused to disclose that name to us. But we know that name. That “reliable source” is President İlham Əliyev. Because the corruption crimes we investigated touched him and his close circle.
Previously, party comrades who said “We have problems the size of Karabakh, talk about that” in response to corruption accusations now say “Our Karabakh-sized problem has been solved, don’t engage in petty matters” when we exposed corruption crimes in Karabakh’s reconstruction work.
While we were in prison, our colleagues living abroad sent a letter to the Chief Prosecutor’s Office requesting an investigation into the corruption cases exposed by “Abzas Media” in Karabakh and asking for information to be provided to them. But even though months passed, the Chief Prosecutor’s Office did not initiate any investigative action against officials who allowed embezzlement. Even the Chamber of Accounts announced that 1.8 million manats worth of embezzlement occurred in reconstruction work in Karabakh, but this did not encourage the agency represented by Rauf Malışov to take action. Instead, we who exposed these crimes share the defendants’ dock. Because while Əliyev and his team digest the state budget like their personal funds, they did not want to hear more appetizing questions. In this case initiated on his instruction, not even professional legal procedures were properly followed.
There is no operational decision regarding 6 of the accused except Kekalov. An operation was conducted, we were arrested, but there is no decision in the middle.
Now I want to reveal how this game was set up through the example of one person who participated in the operation.
On the day I was arrested, as soon as the plane landed in Baku, I was met at the exit by Anar Qasımov, son of Sədrəddin, chief operational representative of the Baku City Main Police Department. He approached with a smile on his face and asked, “Do you recognize me?” I remembered that a few years ago when I lost my phone, I had applied to the police and they had assigned this operative to the case. They said from the department that he was one of the best operatives and my phone would definitely be found. When he saw that he couldn’t find my phone, he suggested that he buy me another phone. But I declined his offer and asked him to find my own phone. Since then, he hasn’t been able to find my phone. But he used to say that when such cases occurred, he would buy phones and notebooks with his own money and give them to complainants so that the problem would be considered solved. The department represented by this operative in the “Abzas Media case” continues with the same method. This time the complainant is the government, and to satisfy it, it considers the operation successful by placing non-existent foreign currency in the office.
The criminal cases initiated against independent media are conducted so haphazardly that “Abzas Media” materials appear in the “Toplum TV case.” Even in Ruslan İzzətli’s sanction court, his name was shown as Ülvi Həsənli. Later, the judge wrote in the decision that the parts written as Ülvi Həsənli in the investigative body’s submission should be read as Ruslan İzzətli. Now an error has been made in our case too. The part “Ülvi Həsənli and the organized group in criminal connection with him” should actually be read as “İlham Əliyev and the organized group in criminal connection with him.” Because the 7 articles written against us are actually the crimes of the president and his team that were proven through our investigations.
We are accused of working illegally and without registration. But even the head of the Media Development Agency sent a letter to the investigation stating that we do not belong to the category of media organizations that must obtain permission to work. Yes, we are representatives of free media. That generation that started journalism with the news that Elmar Hüseynov was shot and killed right at his doorstep for his critical articles. Now the same government thinks it will intimidate us with imprisonment? What fear of prison do those who have faced death have?!
When we decided to conduct investigations related to corruption, Ülvi had one request from me – if he was arrested, I should not stop the investigations, I should continue them. We were arrested, but because our work continued, Nərgiz was arrested. She had decided to go to her last interrogation alone, without a lawyer. Even when a preventive measure of arrest was chosen, she disappointed those who arrested her with her laughter. Elnarə’s arrest suitcase was ready before her arrest. She used to say “Even if they give me 8 years in prison, I’ll still come out and work as a journalist again.” Hafiz bey had tracked down corruption through the window of the room where he was interrogated and exposed the extent of embezzlement, and had done his last investigation before his arrest. Our friend Fərid, although not our colleague, did not hesitate to give an interview to “Abzas Media” after our arrest. Those who thought our youngest, Kekalov, was tamed were wrong. He refused the statement written in his name at the investigative body. There is a symbolic number in the Kekalov part of the case – 1984. This was the password of one of the devices illegally taken from his house. Anyone who has read George Orwell’s “1984” can find considerable similarity between the governance described there and the current governance in Azerbaijan. 1984 is the code of a society that feels watched everywhere, has no private life, lives in fear, has a word removed from its vocabulary every day, and cannot find words it is allowed to speak. They did not know that this code, which they obtained by pressuring Kekalov, was actually the country’s code.
The government wanted to turn us from the questioning side to the questioned side by arresting us. But for 19 months, everyone from the head of the Baku Investigation Isolation Facility where we are held to the guards must answer the question of why they are not doing what they should do by law.
When journalists are imprisoned on almost every floor of the isolation facility, an ironic incident occurs. İlham Əliyev signs a decree on the solemn celebration of the 150th anniversary of the National Press founded by Həsən bey Zərdabi. Perhaps after having all free journalists arrested and closing the media, Əliyev needs a celebration. He thinks he will bury the free press and deliver a solemn eulogy over it. But he forgets that when Zərdabi created the “Əkinçi” newspaper, there was no state called Azerbaijan yet. In a country where the press was created before its state, whoever is in power will not be able to silence this country’s free journalists.
At the end of speeches, they usually ask the panel of judges for freedom. But how can I ask for freedom for 7 accused journalists from judges who are not free?! Throughout the process, you wanted us to address you as “honorable judge,” but you did not achieve this. Because to be an honorable judge, one must be just. To be just, one must also be free. After all, freedom is also a matter of morals. A person who is not free cannot be moral. I hope that someday you will demolish the prison walls you have built inside yourselves and emerge into freedom. We, however, are already free.